We re Thankful for God s Help Lesson 9 Bible Point God Helps Us Bible Verse God will help us (adapted from Genesis 21:22b). Growing Closer to Jesus Children will n learn how God helped Joshua, n understand that God helps us, too, and n express their thanks for God s help. Teacher Enrichment Bible Basis n We re thankful for God s help. Joshua 6:1-20 Archaeologists have found the site of ancient Jericho but are still uncertain which city is the one delivered into the hands of the Israelites because it has been destroyed so many times. In light of the curse put upon Jericho in Joshua 6:26, the archaeological findings are interesting indeed. In Joshua 6:1, we learn an important fact: The people of Jericho had closed up their city, counting on its strong fortifications to protect them. It was so firmly sealed that no one could go in or out. This meant that no one from Jericho would get in the way as the Israelites marched around the city walls! Notice that God not only told Joshua what to do, but also told him precisely what would happen (Joshua 6:5). Assuming that the word from God spread among the Israelites, imagine their increasing anticipation as the army marched silently around the city day after day and then seven times on the seventh day. The people knew that God was going to do something spectacular! Prayer Read John 14:1. When is it difficult for you to trust God? Is there a situation in your life right now that requires total trust in God? Pray: Lord, let my trust in you be complete, just as Joshua s was. Help me show the children I teach what it looks like to trust you. Before the Lesson n Collect items for the activities you plan to use, referring to the Classroom Supplies and Learning Lab Supplies listed in the chart on the next page. n Pray for the children in your class and for God s direction in teaching the lesson. 121
Lesson 9 This Lesson at a Glance Arrival Activities Direct children to one or more of the optional activities until everyone arrives. What Children Will Do Classroom Supplies Learning Lab Supplies Welcome Time Receive a warm welcome from the teacher and Cuddles the Lamb. Option 1: Brick Bowling Roll balls to bowl over paper bricks. Option 2: Bible-Story Headbands Create wearable art with faces of Joshua or a priest. Name tags (p. 8), marker, tape or safety pins, scissors, CD player Tennis or playground balls, paper stand-up bricks from Lesson 6, masking tape Joshua and priest face patterns (pp. 132-133), stiff paper, tape, scissors, cotton balls, glue sticks, construction paper strips Bible Story Time Pick-Up Time Sing a song as they help clean up the room. Bible Song Sing about the Bible. CD player Bible, CD player Bible Activities Closing God Helps Us Interact with the StoryBoard as they hear the Bible story from Joshua 6:1-20. God Helps Us Song Sing a song about God s help. Thank You, God! Act out tasks God helps them with, and then say a big thank-you to God. Interactive Bible Bulletin Board Review the Bible Point with Cuddles the Lamb as they create a bulletin board together. Sing It Out Sing a song about God s help. Bible Craft Make wearable sowing sacks with heart-shaped seeds. Bible Game Sow seeds and give God special thank-yous. Thanks for Your Help! Say a prayer and have a snack. Three medium-sized boxes, headbands from Option 2 CD player Tape, paper bricks from bulletin board CD player Paper plates, scissors, multicolored construction paper, glue sticks Bulletin board patterns (pp. 92, 104-105, 119), tape, scissors, paper, lunch sack Bugle-shaped crackers, napkins *See the end of this lesson for extra-time ideas and supplies. 122
Arrival Activities n Welcome Time SUPPLIES: name tags (p. 8), scissors, marker, tape or safety pins, CD player Play God Helps Us (adapted from Genesis 21:22b) (track track 8 8) from the CD as children are arriving. Use Cuddles the Lamb to help you greet each child by name and with a warm smile. Tape or pin a name tag to each child s clothing. Say: Today we re going to learn that God helps us. Place Cuddles out of sight so the children won t be distracted by him during the next activity. We re Thankful for God s Help Repeating the Bible Point over and over will help the children remember it and apply it to their lives. Help children learn one point that will stay with them for days and even years to come. n Option 1: Brick Bowling SUPPLIES: 5-foot piece of masking tape, paper stand-up bricks from Lesson 6, tennis or playground balls Before this activity, stick a 5-foot piece of masking tape to the floor a few feet away from a wall. Use the paper stand-up bricks from Lesson 6 or make new ones according to the directions in Option 2 of Lesson 6. Stand the bricks along the wall. You ll also need a couple of balls such as tennis balls or playground balls. As children arrive, invite them to go bowling by rolling a ball and knocking over the paper bricks. Encourage toddlers to take turns standing behind the masking tape line and rolling the balls. When all the bricks are tipped over, have toddlers help each other build the brick wall up again and say, Thanks for helping. As they play, tell children that God helped Joshua by knocking down the walls of Jericho and that God helps us. Explain that God is happy when we thank him for helping us. n Option 2: Bible-Story Headbands SUPPLIES: Joshua and priest face patterns (pp. 132-133), stiff paper, scissors, construction paper strips, tape, cotton balls, glue sticks Before class, use stiff paper to photocopy the patterns of the faces of Joshua and the priest found at the end of this lesson. Make enough photocopies of each to allow children to choose which face they want to use. Cut out the faces. Cut construction paper strips to tape together for headbands. Set out the story faces, tape, cotton balls, and glue sticks. Let each child choose a story face. Then help children glue on cotton balls for beards and hair. As toddlers work, explain that the headbands will remind them that God helped Joshua and that God helps us, too. Fit each child for a construction paper headband. Then tape the story faces on the fronts of the headbands. Let children show off their headbands. Encourage them to say, Hi, I m Joshua or I m a priest blowing a horn. Make extra headbands for children who do not choose to do this option. You ll use the headbands later, in the Bible Story. 123
Lesson 9 n Pick-Up Time SUPPLIES: CD player As Arrival Activities draw to a close, gently mention that it will track 2 soon be time to clean up. Encourage children to help you pick up things in the room as you all sing Let s Pick Up All Our Things (track 2). Use the CD and sing the song to the tune of Looby Loo. Let s pick up all our things. Let s pick up all our things. Let s pick up all our things And put them all away. Everyone here can help. Everyone here can help. Everyone here can help. Let s put it all away. Let s pick up all our things. Let s pick up all our things. Let s pick up all our things. It s time to stop our play. Bible Story Time n Bible Song SUPPLIES: Bible, CD player Say: Who will help us? God will help us. How do we know? tracks 3, 11 The Bible tells us in Genesis 21. Show the Bible. The Bible is God s special book. The Bible tells us about God. Let s sing a song about the Bible. Using the CD, lead children in singing God s Special Book (track 3) to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat. This is God s special book. Yes, it s God s book you see! I learn about all God has done And his love for me! (Repeat.) Bible! Say: The Bible is God s special book. In the Bible, we can read all about how God helps us. God helps me read the Bible and God helps me come to church. Ask: What does God help you do? Pause as children respond. Say: It s important to learn about the Bible, because the Bible is God s special story. Let s sing a fun song all about the Bible! Lead children in singing The Bible Is God s Special Book song (track 11) with the CD. Lyrics are on page 24. Say: God helps us, and we can learn all about how God does that in the Bible. Let s learn more! 124
We re Thankful for God s Help n Bible Story: God Helps Us SUPPLIES: 3 medium-sized boxes, headbands from Option 2 Before class begins, please check to make sure the sensory items are still securely attached so the children can touch them without danger of pulling off the items or putting them into their mouths. Before the activity, place the teacher s horn and the figures of Joshua and the priests behind the StoryBoard. Pile three medium-sized boxes beside the StoryBoard. Leave room for children to march around the boxes. Gather children in front of the StoryBoard, and let them wear their headbands from Option 2. Say: Today we ll learn that God helps us. The Bible tells us about a brave soldier who loved God. Can anyone tell me his name? Hold up the StoryBoard figure of Joshua. His name was Joshua. Stand up if you have a picture of Joshua on your headband. Pause for children wearing the picture of Joshua to stand. Shake hands with each of these children and say, Hello, Joshua. Place the Joshua figure in front of the storyboard. You can sit down. Joshua obeyed God. So did all the people who loved God. The priests loved God. Set the figures of the seven priests in front of the StoryBoard. Stand up if you have a picture of a priest on your headband. Have children wearing the picture of the priest stand up. Shake their hands and say, Hello, priest. Then have toddlers sit down. Joshua and the priests loved God. They marched wherever God told them to march. Let s march, too. Stand up, Joshuas and priests! We ll march, too. Repeat the following words in rhythm. Encourage children to say them with you as you march once around the room. Step, step, step! Marching to Jericho. Step, step, step. Marching to Jericho! When you re back at the StoryBoard, say: Joshuas and priests, sit down! Pause while children respond. Lots of people lived in the town of Jericho. But they were wicked. Have children shake their heads and fingers. They didn t love God. God didn t want wicked people in Jericho, so he decided to give the town to Joshua and the priests and the other people who loved God. But there was a big wall around the town of Jericho. How big? It was a big (arms straight out to the side), tall (arms above head), brick (arms above head and hands clasped) wall. (Bring clasped hands down in front of you.) Let s say that rhyme together. Repeat the rhyme a few times slowly and encourage children to follow the actions. Point to the StoryBoard. Ask: What was the wall made of? Say: Great big bricks! Let s pop out the bricks while we count them. Then we ll put them back. Help children pop out the seven bricks as you count them. Then replace the bricks and count once more. When everyone has removed or replaced a brick, say: Joshua had to find a way to get the walls of Jericho down. Let s see how God helped him. 125
Lesson 9 Say: God told Joshua what to do. Joshua, the priests, and the other people who loved God would march around the walls like God s special parade. How many times did they march around the walls? Pause for children to respond. They marched around the walls once a day for six days. Then on the seventh day, they marched around the walls seven times. Let s count to seven with our fingers. Ready? Hold your fingers up as you count. Encourage toddlers to count along. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Good for you! We can march around our pretend wall seven times, too. Stand up if you re wearing a picture of a priest on your headband. Line up these children. Stand up if you re wearing a picture of Joshua on your headband. Line up these children behind the priests. We ll count to seven as we march along. Hold the teacher s horn, and lead children in a march around the boxes piled by the StoryBoard. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Now clap and cheer! Yea, God helps us! Blow the horn and tip over the boxes. And the walls came tumbling down. God s people rushed in, and the city was theirs. God gave them the city as he had promised. Isn t that exciting? Let s march around our pretend wall once more, shall we? Restack the boxes, and repeat marching and counting. After the boxes are tipped over, say: I m so thankful that God helps us. Let s sing a song to thank God for his help. Return the StoryBoard, the figures, and the teacher s horn to the Learning Lab. Set the boxes aside. n God Helps Us Song SUPPLIES: CD player Using the CD, lead children in singing God Helps Us (adapted track 8 from Genesis 21:22b) (track 8) to the tune of The Old Gray Mare. God helps us. He helps us every day, Helps us in every way, Helps us to learn and pray. God helps us. He helps us every day. God helps us! (Repeat.) Say: God helps us, and that makes us feel thankful. Let s tell God thank you for helping us. 126
Bible Activities n Thank You, God! SUPPLIES: none Have the tinsel maraca handy. Say: Joshua loved God and obeyed God. Joshua did just what God told him to do. Ask: Do you remember how many times God told Joshua to walk around the wall on the first six days? (One.) Say: That s right God told Joshua and his men to walk around the walls of Jericho one time each day for six days. Ask: And then on the seventh day, what happened? (They blew the horns seven times; the walls fell down.) Say: Right again! God told Joshua and the priests to walk around the walls seven times and then blow the horns really loudly. And the walls fell down! I am so thankful that God helped Joshua. You know what? God helps us, too. God helps us, just as he helped Joshua. Let s show each other some of the things that God helps us do. I m going to ask you to do something. You ll show your friends what I ve asked you to do. Then I want you to use this tinsel maraca to say thank you to God. Listen as I shake the maraca three times while I say, Thank you, God. Shake the maraca three times as you say, Thank you, God. Say: Now it s your turn! Call one child s name. Have that person do a simple task, such as Jump one time, Touch your elbow, Hug a friend. After the child has completed the task, have him or her shake the maraca three times and say, Thank you, God. Continue until each child has completed a task and shaken the maraca. Make sure the tasks are easy enough for each child to be successful. Ask: Who helps you all the time? (God.) What can we say to God when he helps us? (Thank you.) We re Thankful for God s Help Say: I am so thankful that God helps us! One of the best ways that God helps us is by sending Jesus to be our forever friend. When we believe in Jesus, we can live with him someday in heaven. That s great news! Let s tell God thank you for sending Jesus. Lead children in shouting a great big thank-you to God. Now we ll march to the bulletin board like Joshua when he marched to Jericho. 127
Lesson 9 n Interactive Bible Bulletin Board SUPPLIES: tape, paper bricks from bulletin board Before class, gently untape the paper bricks from the bulletin board, and hide them in the room in easy-to-find places. Keep one paper brick for Cuddles to hold. Last week you added the priests horns. This week you ll search for bricks and tape them back on the bulletin board in a tumbled-down pile. Cuddles: Teacher: Cuddles: Teacher: Teacher: Bring out Cuddles the Lamb holding a paper brick. Hi! Guess what I found? Children, what did Cuddles find? (Pause for responses.) (Looking at bulletin board) Oh! What happened to the wall of Jericho? Children, can you tell Cuddles what happened when Joshua and the priests marched around the walls of Jericho? (Lead children in telling Cuddles that the walls fell down.) God helped them knock down the walls. I guess our wall fell down, too. But where are all the bricks? Children, let s go on a brick hunt! See if you can find the bricks to put back on our bulletin board. Let children find the bricks. Then help them tape the bricks to the bulletin board in a scattered, fallen-down way. Each time a brick is placed, help children say, God helps us. Be sure Cuddles brick is also placed on the bulletin board. Now let s practice counting to seven. Cuddles, you can help us. First we ll count the priests. (Point to each priest as you count aloud to seven. Then count the priests horns.) Cuddles: Thanks for telling me all about how God helps us! Teacher: We re going to sing a song about God s help. You can join us! Have Cuddles help sing the following song. Then put Cuddles out of sight. Permission to photocopy this script from Group s Hands-On Bible Curriculum Toddlers & 2s granted for local church use. Copyright Group Publishing, Inc., 1515 Cascade Avenue, Loveland, CO 80538. group.com 128
We re Thankful for God s Help n Sing It Out SUPPLIES: CD player track 8 Using the CD, have Cuddles lead children in singing God Helps Us (adapted from Genesis 21:22b) (track 8) to the tune of The Old Gray Mare. The lyrics are on page 126. Say: God helps us, just as he helped Joshua. Let s make something to help us remember that! n Bible Craft SUPPLIES: 1x2-inch pieces of multicolored construction paper, glue sticks, 1 paper plate for each child, scissors Before class, cut 1-inch-wide strips of different-colored construction paper. Lay four or five strips together, and then cut them in 2-inch segments. These will be bricks for children to glue on paper plates. Be sure to make a big pile of these small paper bricks. Set out glue sticks. Hand each child a small handful of paper bricks and a paper plate. Let children glue the bricks to their plates. As they work, ask simple story questions such as Who helps us all the time? What happened to the walls of Jericho? and Who is God s soldier? Remind children that God helps us and we re thankful for his help. Write God helps [name of child] on each child s paper plate. For extra fun, have older toddlers identify the different colors of bricks on their plates. n Bible Game SUPPLIES: 2 each of Lessons 6-8 bulletin board patterns (pp. 92, 104-105, 119), scissors, lunch sack, tape, paper Before class, photocopy the bulletin board patterns for Lessons 6, 7, and 8. Be sure you have two of each picture. Cut out the pictures. Place one of each of the following pictures in a lunch sack: Joshua, a priest, and a horn. Also place two paper bricks in the sack. Tape the remaining pictures of the horn, priest, and Joshua to separate sheets of paper. Then tape the papers to the floor. Say: Let s play a fun game to remind us of how God helped Joshua. If I pull out a picture of a horn, a priest, or Joshua, stand beside the matching story picture on the floor. If I pull out a picture of a brick, fall down on the floor. If you have older toddlers in your class, let them take turns pulling story pictures from the sack and telling about each picture. When you ve finished playing, say: I know Joshua was thankful for God s help. I m thankful that God helps us, too. Let s have a snack and tell God how thankful we are. 129
Lesson 9 Closing n Thanks for Your Help! SUPPLIES: bugle-shaped crackers, napkins Have children wash their hands, and then have them sit at the snack table. Say: We have many things to be thankful for. And I m especially thankful that God helps us. Let s say a prayer. Fold your hands. Pray: Dear God, we like to come to you and pray. We know you help us every day. In Jesus name, amen. Hand each child a napkin with seven bugle-shaped crackers on it. Invite toddlers to count their crackers with you. Mention that the crackers look like the horns the priests blew when the walls of Jericho fell. Then have children blow their horns before gobbling them down. When children have finished, have them throw their napkins in the wastebasket. Have toddlers wear their headbands and take their colorful brick pictures home. 130
We re Thankful for God s Help n Brick Bop For Extra Time If you have a long class time or want to add additional elements to your lesson, try one of the following activities. Set out the stand-up bricks you made in Lesson 6, or make new ones from folded index cards and the brick patterns on page 92. Tape the bricks to the cards, and stand them up along a wall. Let children toss beanbags to topple the paper bricks. n Color Bricks Before this activity, cut pairs of rectangular bricks from different colors of construction paper. Tape one set of the bricks to the floor. Place the other set in a lunch sack. Pull out a colored brick and tell its color. Let children hop to the matching brick on the floor and stand beside it. If you have older toddlers, let them choose bricks from the sack and tell what colors they are. 131
Pattern Cut loosely around this pattern instead of cutting exactly on the outlines. 132 Permission to photocopy this pattern from Group s Hands-On Bible Curriculum for Toddlers & 2s granted for local church use. Copyright Group Publishing, Inc., 1515 Cascade Avenue, Loveland, CO 80538. group.com
Pattern Cut loosely around this pattern instead of cutting exactly on the outlines. Permission to photocopy this pattern from Group s Hands-On Bible Curriculum for Toddlers & 2s granted for local church use. Copyright Group Publishing, Inc., 1515 Cascade Avenue, Loveland, CO 80538. group.com 133